I'm just a dumb old country boy, but the whole swine flu thing seems like much ado about not much. From Yahoo News:
"Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said swine flu is spreading just as easily as regular winter flu, with 226 confirmed cases in 30 U.S. states.
"The good news is when we look at this virus right now, we're not seeing some of the things in the virus that have been associated in the past with more severe flu," Besser said. "That's encouraging, but it doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet."
Yeah, I know, it could still take a turn for the worse. And on balance I am inclined to er on the side of caution with something that has the potential to kill a lot of people. But at the same time I note that this is the second time in as many years that health authorities have ginned up panic over a flu epidemic that never materialized (remember bird-flu?)
The threat is real. I just wish they'd be more careful about hitting the panic button. One day we could all wind up in a real life version of one of Aesop's fairy tales...